


J 



F 124 
. B961 
Copy 1 






•• 



[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S(K, by Ellen Burling, in the Clerk's 
Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District o? New York. J 



Is the Government of the State of New York a 
Republic or a Despotism? 



To the Members of the Constitutional 
Convention : 

This is a republican government — a democracy. So 
says the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and so say all the State Con- 
stitutions. A republican government is a government 
of the people. All power is in the people. The will of 
the people expressed in the law is the supreme power. 
Each member of the community is the equal of each 
and every other member of the community. The right 
of each member of the community is the right of each 
and every other member of the community. The lia- 
bility of each member of the community is the liability of 
etn-h a ,nd < very other member of the community, not a jot 
or tittle in or r. or less. 

I cite the following from the 1st vol., Kent : 

" We, the People of the United States, to secure 1 he 

blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 

ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 

States of America." 

fi This Constitution and the laws made in pursuance 

thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land." 



Permit the incongruity of pardoning power, &c, to ex- 
ist, and vou have a despotism, and the declarations of 
Liberty, equality, Arc, are mere shams. 

The consequence of the conviction of A for man- 
slaughter in the first degree, in this state, is that the 
law demands his confinement for seven years, and 
gives to the judge before whom he is tried the right to 
further imprison him for the balance of his life. Mere 
the judge has an interest which he can quit-claim. In 
case the conviction be in the fourth degree, in addition to 
an interest to quit-claim, the judge can impose 
or not at his discretion a royalty to the state of 
$1000 ; and for the exercise of his discretion he is accoun- 
table to no one ; as complete master of the position as 
an owner in fee of a 'piece of real estate. And this prin- 
ciple of discretionary terms of imprisonment and fines, 
or rather royalties, runs through the entire criminal code, 
each magistrate, in greater or less degree, having this 
power ; and at the head of all, the governor, who can 
unconditionally release whom he will, and consequently 

"The right of the people to be secure in their per- 
sons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no war- 
rants shall issue but on probable cause, supported by 
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
place to be searched and the person or things to be 
seized. 

"The absolute rights of individuals may be resolved 
into the right of personal security, the right of personal 
liberty, and the right to acquire and enjoy property. 
These riovhts have been justly considered and fre- 
quently declared by the people of this country to be 
natural, inherent, and inalienable." 



detain whom he will; and all the prisons of the State 
are at his command ; he stands with powt r of freedom or 
slavery, as absolute as a slavt proprietor over his barra- 
coon on th< . \frican coast. 

If your wife, sister, or mother be raped, the State gets 
ten years, the judge the balance of the convict's life to 
quit-claim ; and if sentenced, the governor may imme- 
diately pardon. 

If your sister or daughter be seduced, the State gets 
one day, the judge four years and three hundred and 
sixty-four days to quit-claim, and if imprisoned, the 
governor may immediately pardon. 

If your sister or daughter be led astray for prostitu- 
tion, the State insists on one day, and the judge can 
quit-claim for one year and three hundred and sixty- 
four days: and if imprisoned the governor can pardon. 

If your sister or daughter under sixteen years be 
taken for prostitution, the State insists on one day, the 
judge gets an estate of two years and three hundred and 
sixty-four days to quit-claim, and the right to quit- 
claim the estate of the State to $1000 royalty. 



"Our ancestors insisted that they brought with them 
into this country the privileges of English freemen, and 
they defined and declared those privileges to be — the 
rights of trial by jury and the necessity of due proof 
preceding conviction, were claimed as undeniable rights; 
ami it was further expressly ordained that ho person 
should suffer vrithout EXPRESS law, either in life, limb, 
liberty, good name or estaU ; nor without being first 
brought to answer by due course and process of law. 

'• It was declared by them that the imprisonmenl of 
subjects withoul due commitment, for legal cause, &c. 3 
were illegal and arbitrary acts." 



So if your sister or daughter be seduced^ the judge can 
punish the seducer or let him go. 

These powers are all royal prerogatives, and were in- 
stituted in governments where the head was sole owner 
of the subject, his life, his limb, his honor, his estate, Notel - 
and these prerogatives were for the increasing of the 
royal revenue. Crime was a source of profit to the king ; 
and all his officers, his judges, &c, were but his 
tools to foster and increase his revenue. As we see, 
Blaekstone laments that the fines, etc., were swallowed 
by the direct receivers, and the king profited nothing. Note2 - 
We know, the fines, forfeited recognizances, &c, are 
swallowed by the direct recipients, and the State profits 
nothing. These powers can have no legitimate existence 
in our government. They are in direct contradiction 
to our form of government, and can properly exist only 
in a despotism. The king is the head of the govern- 
ment and all power comes from him. His will is the 
supreme law ; from his decision there is no appeal ; he 
can do no wrong ; all suits, processes, &c, run in his 
name. 



" It was regarded and claimed in all the colonies as a 
branch of their sacred and indefeasible rights, that 
the people were entitled to be secure in their persons, 
property and privileges, and that they could not lawful- 
ly be disturbed or affected in the enjoyment of either, 
without due process of law and the judgment of their 
peers." 

" In the declaration of the first Continental Congress of 
1774, it was declared that the inhabitants of the Eng- 
lish Colonies in North America, by the immutable laws 
of nature, the principles of the English Constitution, and 
their several charters or compacts, were entitled to life, 



5 

In a republican government all power is in the peo- 
ple. Their expressed will, the law, is the supreme 
power, and all officers of government, from the President 
down, are but the servants of the people to execute 
their will, the law. Note3, All suits, processes, &c, run in 
the name of the people, and certainly if these preroga- 
tives are tolerated, then the servant of the people is 
the master of the people, and the law is not the supreme 
power, but is subject to the will of the servant. 
In a republic, each is the equal of the other, and all 
are subject to the law. By the admission of these 
prerogatives the people are the serfs of the riders, and 
their persons and property are at the discretion of the 
rulers. What liberty, what equality is there if the per- 
son and property of one is at the discretion of another? 

These formula, which we call laws, want the life, the 
essence of law — certainty, power. 

The powers of office can be used for emoluments, and 
the law thus gives to one member of the community the 
power to use the person of another member of the 
community for emolument. A slave is a person hound 

liberty and protection, and that they had never ceded 
to any sovereign power whatever a right to dispose of 
either without their consent; and that their ancestors 
who first s< ttled the colonies, were, at the time of their 
emigration from the mother country, entitled to all the 
rights, Liberties and immunities of free and natural born 
subjects; and by such emigration they by no means 
forfeited, surrendered or lost any of those rights." 

" The government in allits parts is the creature of the 
people, and < v< ry department of it is filled by tin ir agents 
chosen and appointed according to their will, dec." 

" When the spiril of liberty has fled, and truth and 
1* 



for life to service — a coolie, one bound for a period less 
than life. Here, in this State, we see it is possible to 
have both the slave trade and the coolie trade. 

In barbarous nations, the captives are the property of 
the captors, for use or ransom. 

Influence ( ; . e. the power that payment of money or 
service or the ability to pay money or service begets) got 
the magistrate his office, ami on his influence he depends 
for its retention. To the lawyer, physician, mechanic, 
or trader, his clients, his patients, his customers are his 
capital, and his efforts are to increase it. To the magis- 
trate, his office is his business — his means of living, and 
his friends (i. e. the voters he can directly or indirectly 
injiuenCi ), are his capital. The possession of office works 
no metamorphosis : the same natural instinct that ruled 
the lawyer, physician, mechanic or trader, rules him as 
magistrate. To keep or increase his influence, the ma- 
gistrate must in greater or less degree use the powers of 
his office. The magistrate is a man ; he must support 
and provide for himself and family; his position for his 
protection necessarily calls for the use of his powers ; a 



justice are disregarded, private rights can easily be sa- 
crificed under the forms of law. It requires more than 
ordinary hardiness and audacity of character to trample 
down principles which our ancestors cultivated with 
reverence; which we imbibed in our early* education ; 
which recommend themselves to the judgment of the 
world by their truth and simplicity, and which are con- 
stantly placed before the eyes of the people, accompa- 
nied with the imposing force and solemnity of a consti- 
tutional sanction. Bills of right are parts of the muni- 
ments of freemen, showing their title to protection, and 
they become of increased value when placed under the 



judicious magistrate will commit no act that will attract 
to his discredit the public attention, no act of very great 
injustice to the individual, but we cannot reasonably ex- 
pect justict from a dependent magistrate at the expense 
of his ink rest. 

WE WEIGH WITH SCALES, WHOSE BALANCE WE DESTROY. 
LET THE MAGISTRATE BE INDEPENDENT, ABOLISH THESE 
KINGLY PREROGATIVES, AM) THERE WILL BE REASON TO 

expect justice. These are the thoughts of every ob- 
servant, reflective person — why,not speak them? -print 
them? They are facts, why not recognize them \ 

If the magistrate be a weak, a corrupt man, what 
words can describe his measure of oppression ? No ac- 
cused stands alone — with him is a family, and while he 
is captive, the effort at ransom never ceases. As the 
person and boxes of a traveller are at the discretion of 
the custom-house official for search, so now to the official 
is the family. Affections, ts, hopes, must all give 

way; secrets belaid bare, questions answered — arc the 
means of ransom within the grasp of the family, or must 
new crime be committed \ Is the person of a member 



protection of an independent judiciary instituted as the 
appropriate guardian of private rights." 

'• I quote from Blackstone — 
'• J l is in! titution or laws of this country with- 

out an acquaintance with the feudal law, the law of nations in Europe. I5y 
this law, 'the king is the universal lord and original proprietor of all lands in 
Ids kingdom, and no man doth < any pari of it but what has been 

mediately or immediately devised as a gift from him to be held for feudal ser- 
vice.-.' All subjects were vassals, and each took to the king openly and humbly, 
kneeling, being ungirt, un< i bands both to ether be- 

tween those of his lord wb ore bim, the oath and profession that iik 

X>I I > BECOME IMS MAN. FROM THAT DAY FOJRTH, OF LIFE AND LIMB A N I > i:.\ K I III.Y 
HONOK." 

"By the word prerogative we usually understand thai preemi- 

nence which tin all other pi of the ordi- 

nary course of the common law in right ofhis regal dignity. 

to those rights a istinction to 

others, and 
if once any one \ 



of the family coveted, or is it money ? Does some ob- 
server of the prostration of the family work the release 
for gratification or gain, or is it some hitherto baulked 
one who can now command success? The occupation, 
routine, and harmony of the family is broken up. 
Home, that one sacred, hallowed spot, the hope, the 
refuge of all, is invaded, profaned, laid waste, and the 
self-respect, the spirit, the manhood of the family trod- 
den out, and its members made spiritless and reckless. 
The family is impoverished. The support of the state 
is the family, and it is of vital interest to the state that 
the family should be protected and home held sacred. 
The young, the weak minded, the ignorant, the poor, 
should be protected, and they should not be tempted. 
" Lead us not into temptation," was the precept of the 
greatest of lawgivers. The accused may he the sole sup- 
port, the sole protection, of a family. To what may not 
affection induct the family to submit? The bare reflec- 
tion thai a son or daughter, brother or sister, may yet be 
tested, maJces the blood curdle — we are looking at the 

POSSIBILITIES, AND POSSIBILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES MAKE 



it would cease to be prerogative any longer, and, therefore, Fuich lays it down as 
a maxim, that the prerog \tiye is that law in-case of tiie king which is law 

IN NO CASE OF TIIE SUBJECT." 

And again — 

"It is necessary to distinguish the prince from his subjects, not only by the 
outward pomp and decorations of majesty, but also by ascribing to him certain 
qualities as inherent in his royal capacity, distinct from and superior to those 
of any other individual in the nation. For, though a philosophical mind will 
consider the royal person merely as one man appointed by mutual consent to 
preside over many others, and will pay him that reverence and duty which the 
principles of society demand, yet the mass of mankind will be apt to grow 

INSOLENT AND REFRACTOR'S IF TAUGHT TO CONSIDER THEIR PRINCE AS A MAN OF NO 
GREATER PERFECTION THAN THEMSELVES. THE LAW, THEKEFORE, ASCRIBES TO 
THE KING IN HIS HIGH POLITICAL CHARACTER NOT ONLY LARGE POWERS AND EMOLU- 
MENTS, WHIOH FORM HIS PREROGATIVE AND REVENUE, BUT LIKEWISE CER- 
TAIN ATTRIBUTES OF A GREAT AND TRANSCENDENT NATURE, 
BY WHICH THE PEOPLE ARE LED TO CONSIDER HIM IN THE 
LIGHT OF A SUPERIOR BEING, AND TO PAY HIM THAT AWFUL 
RESPECT WHICH MAY ENABLE HIM WITH GREATER EASE TO 
CARRY ON THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT— this is what I under- 
stand by the royal dignity." 



CRIMINALS NO REASON, NO ARGUMENT CAN BE GIVEN IN 

FAVOR OF THE RETENTION OF THESE POWERS BY MAGIS- 
TRATES. The people see that the power is the magistrate, 
and they imdertah. to protect themselves and redress their 
<nrn wrongs, hence the murders, outrages, etc., that 

ARE OF DAILY OCCURRENCE. LET THE LAW BE SUPREME, 
AND THE PEOPLE WILL RESPECT AND OBEY THE LAW. 

It is the interest of every member of the community 
that the views of this pamphlet should prevail, for to 
what end are their labors if, when they are removed, 
the dear ones for whom they have labored are to be at 
the discretion of magistrates having such powers ? Let 
each one take the case home to himself and look at it 
with the eyes of a father, husband, brother or sou. 

The person and property of no one should be at the 
discretion of another. No one that ever lived is fit to 
possess such power. The possession of such power in- 
evitably induces its abuse in a greater or less degree. 

Kings, governors, judges, magistrates, all men, all 
politicians, all have appetites and passions to gratify 
for women, political influence, power, position. All have 
prejudices, weaknesses, vanities. 



And again — 

"The king is equally sovereign and independent as any emperor in his 
empire. No suit or action can bt l>r<m<iJii against him, for mi court can have 
jurisdiction <>r, r him ; for jurisdiction implies superiority of power, <&c. The 
person of the king is sacred, even though the measures pursued by him be 
completely tyrannical and arbitrary. The king can do no wrong, and ix uis 

POLITICAL CAPACITY HE IS ABSOLUTE PERFECTION." 

And again — 

'•In the exercise ok his prerogative, the king is and oroiiT to re abso- 
lute— THAT IS. so FAR THAT NO LEGAL AUTHORITY CAN DE- 
LAV OR RESIST HIM— he may reject what bills, &c, &c, may pardon 
wliat offt net s In pleases." 

And again under head of Kim.'- REVENUE. 

"The profits arising from the king's ordinary courts of justice make a ninth 
branch of his revenue, and these consisl not only in fines imposed on offend- 
ers, FORFEITURES OF RECOGNIZANCES, AXU AMERCEMENTS LEVIED ON DEFAULTERS, 
hut also in certain fees due to the crown in a variety of legal matters." 

Note2. "These, in process of time, have been almost all granted out to private 
persons, or else appropriated to certain particular uses, so that though our law 



10 

History is a record of the prostitution of power by 
rulers, emperors, kings, queens, &c, to the gratification of 
individual appetites. 

The law is, that a person committing a certain act, 
shall be confined in prison for a certain period. This is 
an arbitrary, and to a certain extent, a tyrannical act, 
and it can only be justified by its necessity for the pub- 
lic security, and by its exact ami even imposition on all. 
To imprison one for one period and another for another, for 
the same crime; or to imprison a poor man and let a rich 
man escape imprisonment by paying a fine; to imprison 
the friendless one, and let the one having influence es- 
cape ; is intolerable wrong and oppression, and is a des- 
potic act, and is entirely at variance with the spirit of a 
Republican or Democratic government, the principle of 
which is the supremacy of the law and the exact equali- 
ty of all in < a in the eye of the lair. The reason of the 
law is the soul of the law. The reason of the govern- 
ment is the soul of the government, and must be final in 
deciding all questions under it. 

This power of judges and governors to vary at will 
punishment for crime is to punish the convict not for the 
crime, but for being poor, uninfluential, or stupid. The 
writ of habeas corpus is to inquire as to wrongful de- 
tention, etc. ; but a convict under sentence is excepted 



proceedings are still loaded with their payment, very little of them is now re- 
turned into the king's exchequer." 

"In democracies this point of pardon can never subsist, for there nothing 
higher is acknowledged than the magistrate who administers the law/' etc- 
— Blaokstone. 

Mr. Blaokstone is not corkeot in this, "that nothing higher is acknow- 
ledged than the magistrate, " <fcc . The law is higher : it is the bighest, the 

SUPREME POWER, ANT) THE MAGISTRATE IS BUT THE PRONOUNCER OF THE LAW. 

The national judges arc no more than the mouth that pronounces the words 
of the law — mere passive beings, incapable of moderating either its force or its 
rigor. — Montesquieu. 

And again — 

"In republics, the very nature of the constitution requires the judges|to keep 
to the letter of the law." — Montesquieu. 



11 

from its benefit. Withdraw that exception. If the con- 
vict is unjustly convicted and imprisoned, be is wrong- 
fully detained, and he should have the benefit of the 
writ. Let the hearing, as in motions for new trials, be 
before the General Term ; let the petition set forth the 
conviction and record, and the facts, newly discovered 
evidence, etc., on which the convict relies ; in case of death 
or absence of witness on former trial, let the record sup- 
ply the deficienc} r on any subsequent trial — the matter 
can easily be so guarded as to secure justice to the con- 
vict and the State. 

Justice will thus be done, and the supremacy of the 
law maintained. I have submitted some suites- 
tions as to amendments of the Constitution to carry out 
the ideas of this pamphlet. If these amendments be marie 
we mill then for the prst time havt a Republican govern- 
ment, and 'personal liberty and personal security will b< 
insured. There must be Republican government or des- 
potism ; there is no middle course,' either the law must be 
supreme, or the rider supreme} ilu one is a republic, the 
other a despotism. 

ANTI-DESPOTISM. 



"Judgments ought to be fixed to such a degree as to be always conformable 
to the exacl letter of the law — were they to be the private opinion of the judge, 
people would live in society without knowing exactly the obligations it laya 
them under."- Montesquieu. 

Note ?.. " The government in all its parts is the creature of the people, and every 
department of it is filled by their agents, duly chosen or appointed according to 
their will, and made responsible tor ma] administration."- K ent, Vol. ■ -, p. 594 • 

It was also ordained that no person should suffer without express law in 

LIFE, LIMB OB PROPERTY. I O. 

In a despotic government the power is communicated entire to the person 
entrusted with it. The Vizier himself is the despotic prince, and each particu- 
lar officer, is the Vizier. 

In A DESPOTK ^ERNMENT, THE VlZIER IS ANSWERABLE with his HEAD FOE 

THE EXERCISE OF HIS POWER. — M07lte8qUieU. HERE WK HAVE TUB EXKUC1SK OF 
POWER with No RESPONSIBILITY. 



12 

I state as a legal proposition that any one imprison- 
ed under the 1st case instanced under a sentence for a 
longer period than seven years, or under the 2d for a 
longer period than ten years, or under the 3d, 4th or 5th 
cases instanced, is illegally imprisoned, for the reason 
that there is no express law to warrant such imprison- 
ment. 

I suggest the following amendments to the Constitu- 
tion : 

1st. Nomination ami appointment of magistrates by 
Governor and Senate. 
, 2d. Abolition of pardoning power. 

3d. Abolition of lines. 

4th. Extension of the writ of habeas corpus, as sug- 
gested. 

5th. Immediate revision of the criminal code, so that 
there should be reasonable and not arbitrary enactments, 
and reasonable and not arbitrary division of crimes, and 
reasonable terms of imprisonment, and that the law 
should fix the term of imprisonment, and give no discre- 
tion to judges, nor allow suspension of judgment. 

6th. An amendment that will give positive and defi- 
nite expression to the law of the State on the subject of 
arrest, imprisonment and search. 



13 

CONSIDERATIONS o.\ THE SELECTION OF 
THE JUDICIARY. 

Note to pages 6 and 7 as below referred to. 

Natural ability with years of application and experience 
can alone give a perfect knowledge of a profession or trade. To 
judge of the qualifications of one in a particular profession or 
trade requires a master in that line. The public interests are 
not to be experimented with. The lawyer lo be appointed 
judge should not only possess ability, experience, and integ- 
rity, but he should be able to give the proper certificate of the 
possession of those qualities, i.e., acknowledged public reputa- 
tion. The appointment should be with that power most 
likely to possess capability to select, and least likely to be 
influenced to an improper selection. The trainers of our 
Government gave the appointmenl to the President and Sen- 
ate, and in this State to the Governor and Senate, they being 
the officers highest in the State, and necessarily men of ability, 
education, reputation, and free from all petty influences. A 
judge appointed by the agreement of such men could hardly 
fail to be a good one, and we know that when judges were so 
appointed they honored the bench, and the personal rights of 
the people were protected. 

An el ctiv judiciary means a judiciary selected by poli- 
ticians, and the selection is Tin; point. Could the selec- 
tion be proper, the election would he good. But the politi- 
cians provide, and ///>■ peopl must accept. Reputable, capa- 
ble, and therefore deserving professional, mechanical, or 
business men do not, as a rule, meddle in politics; they 
have a substance, a reality, an occupation. It is the adven- 
turer, the man without the substance, the reality, the 
occupation, that is the politician, and to the politician polit 
is his substance, his reality, his occupation, and hi., stock in 



The matter on page 6 commencing with line 6, and on pa 
line 7. is to he, considered : of. The word 

criminal court, and Governor. 



14 

trade is the votes, the influences he can control, and each is 
in the market to sell or trade as best he may. A motley col- 
lection — adventurers from all trades, dealers, venders, gamblers 
and pugilists, all hungry, and all engaged pell mell in the 
grand scramble for the spoils. To these men must the appli- 
cant for office address himself, and to succeed he must enlist 
these warriors in his service, /s it reasonable to suppose that 
a man of tie requisite qualifications as described will thus 
scramble for offia ? Would it not be a surrender of his man- 
hood, his self-respect, his position, his grade? and a descent? 
Can inducements be offered commensurate with the sacrifice ? 
Did hr consent to descend, would he be acceptable? Would not 
the introduction of .such a judge in the political ring be to its 
interests as was to the Trojan* the introduction of the wooden 
horse — defeat? When politician* appoint judges, politicians 
mill be judges. 

The statutes recognize two classes of offenders, those who 
commit crime against the individuals, i.e., thieves, robbers, etc., 
and those who commit crimes against the community, i.e., 
office holders ; and to protect the people against these two 
classes, the natural enemies of the people, are laws made, and 
laws without judges are mere shapes of ink on paper. To 
mafa politicians judges is to set th( wolves to guard the sheep. 
The man who would let this motley collection of incompetents 
(incompetent i-n any profession or trade) select his lawyer or 
doctor, his architect to plan, his builder to build his house, or 
would leave to their selection his stock of goods would be 
deemed a tit subject tor the writ "De lunatico inquirendo." 
To lengthen the t<rm of office, leaving the selection as at pres- 
ent, is to give us Jeffries, if lie be in office, for thirteen years, 
in ]>laee of right. All that we hare that we most value, re- 
latives, liberty, property, (til we hold by the low, our families 
remain to us or are separated, <mr property is secured to us 
or taken from us, by the lata. To leave to this heteroge- 
neous BODY THE SELECTION OF JUDGES, SHOWS EITHER AN EN- 
TIRE WANT OK T1IK REQUISITE APPRECIATION, ABILITY AND IN- 



15 



TEGRITY TO DEAL WITH THE SUBJECT, OR AN AFFILIATION WITH 
THOSE AGAINST WHOM THE PEOPLE DEMAND PROTECTION. The 

conclusion is inevitable: there is no escape from it, and if the 
members of the Convention fail to perform so obvious a duty 
the pith and gist of their employment, on one <>r the oilier of 
the horns of this dilemma will such failure place them. 






17 

The officials have sought the offices they hold for profit, and 
they use all means to increase the profit. They are the power 
in the state, and hold in their hands the public property, rev- 
enues, etc., and make contracts in reference thereto. Their 
interest is radically antagonistic to the interest of the people, 
and their interest naturally prompts them to protect and cover 
one the other. The sole guardians 'jot' the interests of the 
people are the judges. The officials, for misconduct in office, 
corruption, bribery, extortion, misperformanoe or nonperform- 
ance, etc., are arraigned before and tried by the judges. 

A judge is either independent or dependent ; dependence 
is as destructive to the essential requisite of a judge as is to 
the supremacy of the law the existence of a royal prerogative, 
(pardon, for instance.) In a monarchy the monarch is the 
head, and the people have but one master. In a republic with 
dependent judges, the officials are the heads, and the people 
have as many masters as officials. The government that 
places judges in the power of officials is a sickening sham. 
The judges are by the very nature of our government the 
highest officers of state, and their dependence is an insult and 
degradation to the people. In every government the judges are 
appointed by the highest power in the state, and men of the 
highest standing for ability and integrity are selected, and they, 
next to the supreme ruler, are the highest officers of the state. In 
monarchies, the judiciary feel the power of the monarch ; under 
the present constitution the judiciary feel the power of the 
politicians. In a republic the judiciary should feel the power 
of the law alone. The question of liberty or bondage (i. e., 
innocence or guilt) is of the most grave importance, and the 
magistrate who is to pass on it should at least be in all respects 
the equal of the civil judge. 

The present constitution, by making the judges dependent, 
did in fact grant to the politicia?is, by lease, as it were, 
the state, its people, revenues, etc., without consideration for 
rack rent for twenty years — Was ever estate more thoroughly 
gleaned by the middleman f We have now had twenty years' 



18 

EXPERIENCE OF SUSPENSION OF THE LAW, AND SUBSTITUTION 
THEREFOR OF THE WILL OF THE OFFICIALS, I. E., DESPOTISM — 

We have now readied the climax; the people are arrested, 
beaten, and imprisoned at will ; the fundamental principles of 

the government for the protection of the people have no force ; 

USAGE HAS ADDED A PRECEPT TO THE COMMON LAW THAT THE 
HELPLESSNESS OF YOUTH, AGE, LONELINESS, OR POVERTY WORKS 
FORFEITURE OF THE PERSONAL RIGHTS OF LIBERTY, SECURITY, 

and property. The officials paid to protect the people are 
the oppressors of the people, and the power of office is prosti- 
tuted to the purposes of the officials; personal liberty and 
security are jests. In the police courts the people are not 
treated with attention or respect; they are used like cattle, 
and are browbeaten and abused ; they are made the butts of 
official merriment ; their w r ants and woes, wounds and wretch- 
edness, probed to the quick. One of the staples of the daily 
papers is the holding; up to public gaze these helpless unfor- 
tunates, with such comment as the ability of the writer can 
afford. 

Crime in this city is a marketable commodity, and yields 
large profits to the dealers ; as hunters use hounds and falcons 
to bring in game, so do the dealers use the thieves of different 
grades ; and the possession of the game to the thief is as tran- 
sient as to the hound or falcon. Well housed, dressed, fed, 
crime is profitable, and is tolerated. 

The public moneys are at the discretion of the officials ; they 
help themselves. Peculation and extortion rule undis- 
puted ; the taxes increase by millions, and as they increase, 
rents increase ; each tenant, if he be a laborer of any descrip- 
tion, lawyer, doctor, mechanic, etc., must demand increased 
wages ; if he be store keeper, increased profit on his goods to 
meet the increased rent ; and the action of each is felt by each 
and all in the increased cost of all the necessaries of life. So 
the tenant pays the taxes directly in the rent, and the tenant 
and landlord pay the taxes in the increased cost of all the 
necessaries of life. Owing to this increased cost of living the 



19 

body of the people are crowded into tenement houses, and are 
scantily clothed and fed ; the poor are driven to attics and 
cellars, and helplessly starved. The public thoroughfares are 
seized and used as private property and the people crowded in 
cars like cattle in pens, and extortion practised on them in 
violation of the plain letter of the law. The people who 
by misfortune become inmates of the public charities are still 
the people. The public charities are paid for and supported by 
the people for the use of themselves, the people (i. e., the poor.) 
A father pays for and supports his house for his family ; andjdie 
poor have the same rights in the charities that the family have 
in the house. As the father employs servants of different grades 
to supervise and attend to the family, the people employ ser- 
vants (i. e., officials) to supervise and attend to the charities ; 
and the poor, as matter of right and not of favor, are en- 
titled to care, attention, and respect. The public charities 
are by these public servants worked for their profit and gratifi- 
cation. They feast on the choicest luxuries, and the poor, like 
the beggar at the rich man's gate, are thrown the crusts. The 
treatment the poor helpless infants receive, words fail to des- 
cribe. We point to infanticide in India as an evidence of the 
barbarism of its inhabitants. Let us look at home at the 
treatment of helpless infants in the public charities, and 
the daily record of abortions in the] papers. Abortion is a 
recognized, tolerated trade, and its professors offer their ser- 
vices to the public publicly in a half column of a daily paper. 
The people called the Convention and'incurred its expense 
that the oppressions which they suffered and which they clear- 
ly recognized and distinguished (some of which are above set 
forth,) might be abated ; other oppressions, banks, canals, etc., 
did not so directly and distinctly touch their persons and 
pockets. They thoroughly understood and appreciated the 
evil of a dependent judiciary, and they traced to this evil their 
many oppressions. They thoroughly understood 4 and appre- 
ciated the abuses of the pardoning power. The people are 
not slaves, boors or serfs ; they are intelligent, educated and 



20 

cultivated, and perfectly capable to understand, appreciate 
and judge these two evils, their causes and effects. They ob- 
served since the establishment of the elective judiciary, the 
power of the officials steadily increasing, and the power of the 
judges as surely waning, until as at present, the officials are 
the master. The people have long since given judgment on 
these questions, and the wisdom, the judgment of a people 
should be respected in preference to the wisdom, the judg- 
ment of individuals or small bodies of individuals. In a re- 
public the judgment of a people should be final. Is it reason- 
able to suppose that such a people will continue to suffer out- 
rages to their persons in violation of the law of the land ; that 
they will contiuue to suffer privation that their earnings may 
be tossed by thousands by officials one to the other, and that 
officials may revel in luxury ? The remedy and the only re- 
medy is an independent judiciary. 

The question is not only as to our personal rights for proba- 
bly the balance of our lives, but the rights of our children. 

ANTI-DESPOTISM. 



Time has not been allowed the writer for exact correct expression, nor for 
condensation or arrangement, nor for a full expression of this matter, and 
he asks that this be taken in consideration by the reader. It is the judgment 
of the writer that the vital interests of the people demand that the Constitu- 
tion be amended as urged, and in default of action by others, to such effect 
he acts as he deems his duty to the helpless and to his family demand, and 
as in him lies, and if any part bear constructive reflections on either the 
members of the Conventionor the judiciary, it is unintentional. The writer 
has simply endeavored to show that the evil is in the system and not in the 
men ; that the system does destroy, and will surely destroy the usefulness of 
any men as judges, and surely induce corruption in officials. He detects 
repetitious matter which might be omitted, and expressions which he 
would alter, but circumstances prevent. 



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